Bill Gates’ Christmas book list aims to ‘understand the world around you’

The quartet of non-fiction books revolve around a common theme, and not surprisingly, most relate to the technological advances that shaped civilization during a fourth industrial revolution that he helped bring about as a co-founder of Microsoft.

“All four are about understanding the world around you in one way or another,” Gates wrote in a post for his blog titled “Books to Keep You Warm This Holiday Season.”

Social upheaval in the 1960s

While the list largely focuses on technology and its impact on society, it begins with a personal account from author Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book An unfinished love story.

Gates said he was fascinated by her retelling of the upheavals of the 1960s, all from her own perspective as the wife of an adviser to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson during their respective time in the Oval Office.

“Doris is such a talented author that the chapters about her love story are just as compelling and insightful as the chapters about the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War,” he wrote.

The connection between digital natives and mental illness

Gates recommends further The fearful generation by Jonathan Haidt. The Microsoft co-founder called it a “must-read” for anyone who interacts daily with today’s youth, be they parents raising their children or teachers teaching students.

This digitally native generation grew up spending more time watching TikTok videos or Twitch live streamers like Kai Cenat than frolicking in the woods with their neighbors.

The breakdown of traditional social interaction, symbolized by putting smartphones in children’s hands, has led to a rise in mental illness and anxiety, according to Gates.

“Haidt explains how the shift from play-based childhood to phone-based childhood is changing the way children develop and process emotions,” he says.

Answers to questions you never knew you had

All too often, people pass by the miracles of modern society that blend into the background of our industrial landscape and go largely unnoticed.

The book by Grady Hillhouse Engineering in sight looks at the various devices that make our modern lifestyle possible and how they work.

The author unravels everyday objects like cell phone towers and explains in plain language what we would lose if they suddenly stopped working quietly in the background.

“It’s the kind of reading that rewards your curiosity and answers questions you didn’t even know you had,” says Gates.

Risks and opportunities of AI

The coming wave explains how artificial intelligence will “reshape every aspect of society,” says the philanthropist.

The author is none other than Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of the AI ​​research laboratory DeepMind, which was later acquired by Google a decade ago.

After leaving the Silicon Valley giant, he founded his next AI startup, Inflection AI, and has been a vocal advocate for the need to regulate artificial intelligence.

“If you want to understand the rise of AI, this is the best book to read,” recommends Gates. (For those readers who are still hungry, Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn has been following the industry for years and has published his own survival guide for the future of AI.

Gates admits that the recurring theme of understanding the world around us during the transformative periods of history was not intentional.

But given today’s tumultuous events, he wasn’t surprised that he found reading these four books last year rewarding.

“In times of rapid change like the one we are currently experiencing, it is natural to try to understand things clearly,” he said.